Quiet Time Tips (a series) – TIP #1: MAKE A PLAN!

One of the three main areas of focus for my teaching is the realm of Christian health and growth. Parents have to be living out a vibrant, vital relationship with the LORD before they have any hope of having a Christ-centered marriage, or passing along a generational legacy of faith to their kids.

So I’m beginning a series of posts to help you start getting your own spiritual life on track. And today we start from square #1.

Make a plan

Nothing that you really want to do or need to do happens by accident. You have to do it purposely, intentionally.

Drawing close to the LORD through a quiet time with Him is no exception. With His help, you will have to make it happen.

And you can’t do that without a plan. To some people planning may sound unspiritual, but it’s not.

In fact, Paul said that one of the wonderful things the Holy Spirit produces in the life of the believer is “self control.” (Galatians 5:23) Why self control? Because we need it in order to actually do what we need to do in growing closer to Jesus!

We also need to control self, so that we can do what is needed in order to live as the Lord Jesus desires. The discipline we need in order to consistently me

et in a quiet time with the LORD requires the Spirit’s fruit of self-control.

First, you need to plan a time for your quiet time with the LORD.

Don’t expect that you’ll somehow “fit it in” from day to day. You won’t. Believe me… you won’t.

The urgent demands of life will overwhelm your schedule and press out the truly important things like time with the LORD.
On top of that, you have an enemy (Satan) who will do everything he can to distract, detract from, and demolish your day so that you will not have time to spend with the LORD.

Don’t give yourself any excuses… you need to plan your quiet time if you are going to get tight with the LORD.

And might I suggest you make it a daily appointment?

In my experience, if I don’t shoot for time with the LORD every day, my week will wind up with more days where I did not meet with Him than days where I did.

Consistency is your ally. That’s how you build good habits in action and thinking.

Your body will even get into the act as you set a regular time for quiet with the LORD. You will become used to that time of study, and you will make good use of it as a result.

Don’t let your week slip away… make a plan to spend time with the LORD daily.

I also strongly encourage you to organize your quiet time with the LORD.

Too often Christians pick up their Bibles without any idea of what they are going to read or study. They resort to an old favorite, or flop open their Bible and read wherever the pages separate.

If you approach it that way, let me ask you two questions:

Doesn’t the Lord deserve a more diligent effort than that?
Don’t you need something a bit more specific to your life?

You need a plan that guides you through some kind of systematic study and meaningful prayer time. Relationships take work and intentionality, and your relationship with the LORD is no different.

Get started

While there are no magic formulas that will guarantee that you have a deeply meaningful quiet time every day, in future posts I’m going to suggest many different methods you can use to head in that direction.

But it’s up to you to make the time and to organize a plan.

And it’s up to you to stick with it. A wonderful plan that you don’t follow won’t do you any good.